Czech Chamber Music Society • Václav Petr

One of the finest Czech cellists, Václav Petr has served as concert master of the Czech Philharmonic cello section for over a decade. He has performed as a soloist since the age of 12. As a member of The Trio, he has also devoted to chamber music.  

Václav Petr learned the rudiments of viola playing at the Jan Neruda School in Prague from Mirko Škampa and subsequently continued to study the instrument at the Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Daniel Veis, graduating under the guidance of Michal Kaňka. He further honed his skills at the Universität der Künste in Berlin under the tutelage of Wolfgang Boettcher, and also at international masterclasses (in Kronberg, Hamburg, Vaduz, Bonn and Baden-Baden). He has garnered a number of accolades, initially as a child (Prague Junior Note, International Cello Competition in Liezen, Talents of Europe) and then in Europe’s most prestigious contests (semi-final at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann, victory at the Prague Spring Competition).

At the age of 24, after winning the audition, he became one of the youngest concert masters in the Czech Philharmonic’s history. As a soloist, he has performed with the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonia, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and the Philharmonie Baden-Baden.

Václav Petr has made a name for himself as a chamber player too. Between 2009 and 2020, he was a member of the Josef Suk Piano Quartet, with whom he received first prizes at the competitions in Val Tidone and Verona (Salieri-Zinetti), as well as at the highly prestigious Premio Trio di Trieste. In 2019, he, the violinist and concert master Jiří Vodička, and the pianist Martin Kasík formed the Czech Philharmonic Piano Trio, later renamed The Trio. During the Covid pandemic, they made a recording of Bohuslav Martinů’s Bergerettes (clad in period costumes), which would earn them victory at an international competition in Vienna.

In December 2023, Václav Petr and the young Czech pianist Marek Kozák gained acclaim at the Bohuslav Martinů Days: “The interpretation of all the compositions reveals the signature of seasoned chamber musicians. The audience savoured the duo’s splendid work with tempo, agogics, dynamics and colour,” wrote Jiří Bezděk for the OperaPlus server. And who knows? Perhaps – just as at the festival – the two musicians will delight us with a piano-four-hands encore. 

The young Czech pianist Marek Kozák has been lauded for his impeccable technique, sense of proportion and gradation, plethora of registers, immense musicality and profound respect for the score. A highly cultivated performer, he enchants listeners with his ability to “convey with humility and without ostentatious gesture that which the composer aimed to express” (M. Bátor, Czech Radio, Vltava).

A graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied under Ivan Klánský, he has received many international awards. In June 2021, he became a laureate of the prestigious Concours Géza Anda in Zürich. Moreover, he advanced to the final of the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano and the semi-final of the Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and won the European Piano Competition in Bremen, where he also earned the audience prize. He received second prize at the 2016 Prague Spring Competition for his performance of Adam Skoumal’s The Juggler. 
A pianist enjoying international renown, Marek Kozák has been invited to give recitals in Switzerland, Germany, Spain and other countries. Yet he has most frequently performed in the Czech Republic, appearing at such major events as the Leoš Janáček International Music Festival in Ostrava, Smetana’s Litomyšl, Dvořák Prague, Saint Wenceslas Music Festival and the Rudolf Firkušný International Piano Festival. He has performed with leading Czech orchestras as a soloist and within their recital cycles (in February 2023, he debuted as a guest of the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the Rudolfinum). 

Besides the piano repertoire staples, primarily Fryderyk Chopin and J. S. Bach works (he performed both sets of The Well-Tempered Clavier at two successive editions of Smetana’s Litomyšl, for instance), he has also undertaken little-known piano concertos by Karel Kovařovic, Vítězslava Kaprálová and Pavel Bořkovec, which he has recorded with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Jindra. His most recent album, Zapomenuté klavírní koncerty (Forgotten Piano Concertos), released in March 2024, has extended his discography, following his profile CD featuring pieces by Joseph Haydn, Fryderyk Chopin, César Franck, Sergei Rachmaninov and Adam Skoumal.

In addition to appearing as a soloist, Marek Kozák performs chamber music, most often along with the soprano Simona Šaturová and – as today – the cellist Václav Petr. Within the current Year of Czech Music, he and the German tenor Thoma Jaron-Wutz have prepared a recital focusing on Bedřich Smetana’s life. Mark Kozák also works as an educator, teaching at the City of Prague Music School.